Mental Health and Our Community

Suicide is a growing concern in our community.

Incidents of death by suicide are on the rise and the statistics of death by suicide is one of the highest causes of death in the farm community.

Help is available:

  • Mild anxiety: speak to family, friends, pastor or your physician
  • Medium to high: call 811 Option 2 to speak to a trained social worker 24/7
  • Thoughts of harming yourself – go immediately to the hospital or call someone immediately to help.

Several months ago we began a Mental Health Initiative with farm and other members of our community who wanted to help. At this point in time we have a working group which is working towards holding information seminars, creating a sanctuary space and advocating for more services in our community.

Working group members include farmers, educators, CLSC workers, parish members, community service providers and our clergy. Our group is evolving into a Steering Committee dedicated to providing information and services to the community.

Currently, we are offering or working on:

We are part of the Early Adopters program of The Roots of Hope Campaign by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. We are honoured to be asked to take part in this project with our partners Connexions Resource Centre.   Our cohort is the only one in Quebec in phase 2. We look forward to the learnings and working on ways to improve Mental Health circumstances and ways to help those considering death by suicide to have second thoughts. We firmly believe in “Not Suicide, Not Today,” a slogan coined by CAMH.

We are engaged in the Eclaireur/Beacons program in the Pontiac. Eclaireurs or Beacons will reach out to those who might be showing signs of struggling with life. You will hear much more about this initiative in the coming months.

2 Sentinel Workshops to educate on Suicide, its warning signs and how to help safely – free and open to anyone in our community

In the recent past, we have held 2 different Sanctuary Ministries mental health education programs, including one on mental health and COVID-19.  All of our mental health programs are open to everyone in the community.